


Rainy Nights

by wiltshire



Series: The Death of Daiya Oowada [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 04:02:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10505967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wiltshire/pseuds/wiltshire
Summary: Taichi receives a phone call.





	

        Taichi had been preparing some tea when he got the phone call. He thought nothing of it, assuming that it was either his boyfriend or work calling him. He simply leaned against the kitchen counter with his cup in one hand and phone in the other and he answered it as he normally would. The faint sound of rain could be heard from outside but he paid it no mind. After all, it rained pretty often. There was nothing special about it. Tonight was a special night though. Daiya would be retiring and handing off the gang to his younger brother. He was growing up finally.

        He didn't recognize the voice on the phone and was immediately confused as to why he would be getting a call from someone he didn't know. The voice was a deep one and he introduced himself as Officer Ishimaru. Taichi's first thought was that he had heard the name before. His second was wondering why a cop would be calling him at nearly eleven o clock at night. 

        What the officer said had him dropping his cup onto the kitchen floor. He distantly heard his son's voice calling to him from the other room and the shatter of his cup breaking on the tiles as he felt bile begin to rise in his throat. It had been a normal night. Of course, he had been planning to greet his boyfriend like any other night and congratulate him on his retirement from the gang. Taichi held onto the phone with a trembling hand as he gripped the counter so hard that his knuckles began to turn white. The officer asked him if he was alright and all Taichi could respond with was a shaky "I..." as he bit down on his bottom lip in an attempt to keep from crying. A completely normal night.

        Cold.

        He was definitely cold. Thunder sounded in the distance as the rain poured down from the dreary, grey sky to reflect the mood of the current situation. Taichi stood there among the rest of the crowd, dressed appropriately in black as he should have been. Of course, everyone was wearing black. This was his funeral.  

        Taichi had gone through a complete mental breakdown since he had gotten the phone call. He rarely ate and even more rarely was he able to hold himself together long enough to stop crying. It had been a week and there hadn't been a night where he didn't have to cry himself to sleep. Taichi was a mess. He didn't care. His son had desperately tried to take care of him, only further remind him what an awful father he was. After all, he couldn't even take care of himself. How was he supposed to look after his child in the state he was?

        Even now, as he stood shakily holding an umbrella, he was crying. The funeral was almost over and the body had already been lowered into the ground. Taichi felt almost detached from his body, faintly hearing the sound of someone sobbing. He slowly scanned the crowd to spot the younger Oowada brother, Mondo, and a boy who he faintly remembered to be said brother's boyfriend. As Mondo continued his attempts to calm him down, realization dawned on Taichi that Ishimaru was the boy's last name. 'The officer must have been his father.' Taichi briefly thought before he scanned the crowd again.

        He managed to find his son near the two that he had just been thinking of, who met his eyes for a moment before returning his attention to Ishimaru as well. Holding hands with him was a redhead with multiple piercings that he made a mental note to ask about sometime. 

        When Taichi finally worked up enough courage, he looked back down at the gravestone that had been placed on the ground. Daiya Oowada .

        After several times of reading it, he felt his heart shatter again. Daiya was dead. The thought hurt him more than anything could have at that point. Ironically, the only one that would have been able to comfort him at a time like this was the one who was now buried six feet under the ground. Thunder sounded in the distance again as Taichi began to think of all the time he had spent with Daiya since they had been together. The memories all began to flood back at once and instead of completely collapsing, he took a deep breath and tried to sort through them all.

        He thought back to the time they had actually met and the memory nearly had him smiling as he recalled the way that Daiya had been flirting with him. Taichi also remembered how badly he had been stumbling with his words in a lame attempt to flirt back. It never had been something he was good at. 

        There of course had been times that the two of them had fought. This wasn't a surprise. Every couple fought, no matter how much they tried to deny it to others. Was there even such a thing as a perfect couple? Taichi doubted it. That didn't stop him from being crushed at the sudden shock of losing his boyfriend, however. Nothing could have prevented him being this upset. No, upset was not the word he would have used to describe himself. Devastated. He was absolutely devastated by his loss of one of the two most important people to him.

        Taichi's mind wandered to all of the nights that he had spent with Daiya, curled up and watching movies with him or just spending time with him in general after a long day of work. He remembered all the times that he had almost gotten in trouble while messaging his boyfriend on the job while almost getting caught. His favorite coworker would always let him know if one of the bosses were near in case he needed to put away his phone quickly. Daiya would have always laughed when he told him stories from work. A laugh that he would never hear again.

        His heart squeezed at the thought and he quickly pushed it away to recall more memories. Happier memories.

        He thought of times like when Daiya would always come to his aid if he needed him and other times when he would surprise him with either gifts or just small favors. He was a sweet boyfriend and had always tried his best to do anything to get Taichi to smile. It was one of the many things that he had loved about Daiya. One of the many things that he would miss.

        Taichi mentally chastised himself for thinking so negatively again but as his eyes fell back on the grave in front of him, he felt his breath catch in his throat. There was simply no denying the inevitable fact that was in front of him. Daiya was gone and there was nothing anyone could do that would somehow bring him back. He told himself that the sooner he accepted it, the sooner he would be able to move on. It was what he wanted to tell himself anyways. Moving on at this point seemed like something that was far out of his grasp. He felt that even if he reached out, he wouldn't be able to bear the thought of going on with his life as if nothing had happened in the first place.

        Expecting that of him would have been cruel. Taichi would have thought the same if he had been thinking rationally but the truth was that he didn't have much left in him after spending a week with just his thoughts. He hadn't been to work. His bosses hadn't expected him to show up but he knew that he had to go back as soon as possible. It was his job, after all. He was still an adult and had a child to take care of. 

        The reminder had him glancing back at his son who happened to be wearing a black dress that reached down to his knees. It had never bothered Taichi to see him like this. The only thing he wanted for his son was for him to be happy, and he would have accepted him no matter what it meant dealing with. He decided then and there that he was going to to everything he could to recover from this for his son. Aside from his job, Chihiro was the only thing he had left. He wanted his son to be happy and for him to not have to deal with a father that wouldn't be able to take care of him.

        Another reason for him wanting to recover from Daiya's death dawned on him. It was the one who died, himself. Daiya would have hated to see him upset in general, let alone as crushed as he was right now. He would have done everything in his power to try to cheer Taichi up and wouldn't have given up until he had made some sort of difference, no matter how much it may have been. Daiya wouldn't have even let him get away with skipping any meals and would have been there for him when he cried just to comfort him in some way. 

        He had always been there for Taichi when he needed him most. Always been someone to talk to when he needed about absolutely anything that happened to be on his mind. Always someone to ease his mind when he was worrying about something. Taichi had always been one to worry about a lot and it had helped to have someone actually there for him. The change would certainly not be an easy one to get used to. No, he didn't think he would get used to Daiya not being there for a lot time. It was normal completely normal to need time to adjust. Taichi knew this.

        That didn't stop him from slowly sinking into the self loathing that he had grown accustomed to over the years. His mind told him that he was weak for not being able to handle something like this. It was ridiculous to think something like that, but his mind wouldn't allow him to think so. He told himself that he should have been able to pull himself together by now instead of continuing to cry a week later over something that couldn't be changed. Being strong felt so far away from him, just as the thought of moving on had been. He wanted desperately to be able to hold on. For Chihiro, Daiya, and most importantly himself. He needed to hold on. Falling apart simply wasn't an option for him at this point and he felt that doing so would mean the end of everything that Daiya had wanted for him.

        The last thing he wanted to do was let Daiya down, especially now that he was gone. He couldn't. Taichi was willing to try anything if it meant recovering from this. It was what he would have wanted it and Taichi knew that. His eyes fell back on Mondo who was now hugging his boyfriend close and looking like he was on the edge of tears but trying to keep it together. He was succeeding at the moment but Taichi knew that he couldn't keep it up forever. He made another mental note to ask Chihiro to keep an eye on him. Taichi knew that the two of them were close friends so it wouldn't have been a problem. 

        Mondo must have felt his gaze because for a few brief moments, Mondo's lavender eyes- which looked scarily similar to Daiya's- met Taichi's but they quickly dropped away from his. In those few moments, Taichi was able to see what looked like an immense amount of pain and remorse in those eyes of his. He would have wondered why if a clap of thunder hadn't interrupted his thoughts and startled him. The rain was coming down much heavier now and the funeral was ending now as people began to go back to their cars or in most cases, motorcycles. A lot of the people that had shown up were part of the gang who had come out of pure respect for their former leader.

        Taichi lingered there with his umbrella, reaching up to wipe off his glasses with his free hand. A hand on his arm had him putting his glasses back on and looking up, or rather down, at the person who it belonged to. Standing there was his son with his own umbrella in hand. "Papa, are you alright?" He took a deep breath and nodded, taking one last look at the grave that made his heart squeeze in his chest again, before looking back at Chihiro. 

        "I will be. Let's go home." He said gently, nudging Chihiro in the direction of the car. He wouldn't be able to get over Daiya's death any time soon but that didn't mean he couldn't take small steps in getting there. Standing at his grave wasn't going to do him any good right now. What he needed to do was remember the good memories and never forget about the time that they had shared together. He needed to remember the happiness that Daiya had brought him instead of focusing on the fact that there wouldn't be any more memories with him.

        The steps he took on the way back to the car were the first steps towards recovering.


End file.
